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This is what Danielle Smith responded by saying:"I think that every candidate puts forward their best argument for why they should be the person who can best represent the community," Smith said at a campaign event.

We HAVE a problem with racism in this country. It is often hidden but here it is on display.

In this case we must show that this matters as people. We cannot ignore this. There has to be a firestorm. This is not an isolated incident -- this is a flashpoint of a deep disease in our communtiies and if we want to address it we have to stand up.

Many people are decent. They won't like this. They want to beleive they are not racist and that their community and country is not racist. It is not enough to stay quietly disgusted. This is the sort of disgust that must be expressed.

If you did not contact your MP already and say that the way Aboriginal people are being treated is racist then at least do this. Or immigration and so-called justice policy. Racism is not just words it is the underlying motivation behind deeds. It is difficult to correct when it is often unconscious and hidden but here it is out there, conscious and purposeful. Can we rise up and say reject this? Only if we do this can we hope to be able to correct the rot in racist public policy.

I know what you are getting at -- but he is saying this runnign against visible minorities saying people should elect him because he is right.

And-- he is not implying this--- he is saying it bluntly, directly, wearing his racism as a badge of pride. Defended by his leader.

Alberta. I will think less of you if you deliver more than single digit vote percentages to the Wildrose party. I am sorry to say that but that is how I feel right now. You don't support or excuse racism and deserve respect.

I know what you are getting at -- but he is saying this runnign against visible minorities saying people should elect him because he is right.

And-- he is not implying this--- he is saying it bluntly, directly, wearing his racism as a badge of pride.

I get that. I'm just commenting on how strange it sounds for a politician to almost, inadvertently, cluelessly acknowledge that white privilege exists. Which he obviously didn't in any true sense. I just think this provides an excellent teachable moment.

I stopped at 12/20 because the questions started repeating themselves and I still couldn't remember which jackass said what. That Ted Morton sounds adorable, though. He seems awfully concerned about homosexuality, especially given its relevance in his position as Energy Minister.

No problem Maysie-- I'm meditating to bring down my blood pressure. I don't think I have been so angry in recent memory by something I've seen on the news.I saw the comment and red-lined-- then I looked up who he was running against and blew a gasket.

It is the fact that this is intentional-- not neglect, not unconscious but right out there. I realize in a way I should be satisfied to see these people admit what they are but I can't get there yet-- I'm too angry that someone could think that it is okay to articulate this.

It is not like it surprises me that someone has this opinion, sadly there are many people like that. But a politician thought that it could help his campaign by wearing racism as a badge of pride. Albertans should be furious that they are presumed to be so racist that a politician thought it would help his campaign to say this and for the party leader to endorse it.

I hope they are furious.

Perhaps it could be considered hate speech to think that Alberta could elect this party.

Progressive bloggers in the province have begun to expose Wildrose candidates who have taken controversial stands in the past. One of those is Ron Leech, an evangelical pastor who wrote in the Calgary Herald in 2004 that “to affirm homosexuality is to distort the image of God, to insult the nature and being of God.”

Ron Leech was elected the PC Candidate in Calgary-Montrose in 2008, in a race the Party later threw out over allegations of wrongdoing on the part of the local board. Under a cloud of confusion, Leech ran as an Independent in the riding, falling 617 votes shy of victory.